Welcome - We arrived later than expected at the Petra Mare and although the main restaurant was closed, their staff had saved us a delicious Greek supper - very welcome after a long day's travel & a great start to our holiday. The Resort - During our stay in May 2023 most of the guests were either German & Polish, mostly small families with pre-school children. We did see a very few French people there during our week's stay but I think we were the only British guests. However English was the main language used. Outside - Plenty of comfortable sunbeds on both the decking and on the real grass lawns, plus a convenient poolside snack-bar that served food & drinks all day. The main swimming pool was large, clean & reasonably warm for May, with plenty of space to swim lengths, plus a very good kids pool too. Easy access to the sea with more sunbeds, tables & sun shades on the beach. Food - The Petra Mare consistently served a remarkable range of international dishes at every meal - the food was always well prepared, nicely presented & very tasty - so much better than we might have expected at an all-inclusive hotel. Drinks - The self-service beer was always on tap throughout the day & was perfectly refreshing. Their own-brand Rose & the cocktails were also perfectly drinkable. There were also plenty of good self-service coffee & soft drinks dispensers throughout the day.

The own brand red wine was not very pleasant, but the white wine was slightly better & we liked the Rose. Our week's stay included one complimentary meal that we had to pre-book at the in-house Chinese Restaurant and we were looking forward to something special. Although the staff did make an effort, and the quality of the food was good, we thought the menu was very limited & the service was quite slow, so it really did not feel like a special occasion. The location of this restaurant is outdoors by the main entrance & we felt it was in the wrong area with no view - to improve the ambiance the management might want to consider moving it to the terrace overlooking the sea?

Friendly staff, main restaurant was very good for all inclusive hotel. Sea view rooms had really nice view. There were many sofas and chairs at the lobby area & general areas of hotel, which I liked.

Furniture in the room need renovating. It's children friendly hotel. So you would always hear kids crying, screaming..... The spa at the hotel was too expensive. 1 hour massage over 90 euros.

Very family friendly hotel nicely decorated and not crowded despite the number of people. The FO staff were very helpful and kind, especially Oksana and Maria. The animation team is amazing. The guys are truly doing their best to entertain the guests. They are all very charismatic and fun. They really engage with the kids. Our daughter loved the mini discos in the evening and liked to chat with the guys whenever she got a chance. The room we had was a bit tired but comfortable with a spectacular view of the sea from the terrace. The room was sufficiently clean and the cleaning ladies came every day although they did not really clean it every day, but the floors were washed which is good. The food was tasty and varied. Each lunch and dinner various sorts of meat, fish and seafood available. We don’t drink alcohol so we can’t comment on that. We only drank water. We liked that they didn’t cook too much at once and refilled the buffet when needed. Hopefully it helps to tackle food waste which must be huge for such a property. The beach of the hotel is not bad for a few days but there are many nicer beaches around , so the car is recommended if you want to explore a bit. It’s nice that the hotel is a walking distance from Ierapetra. It was nice to go there for a stroll in the evening and you can do a bit of shopping if you are lucky and the shops are open (10-14:00 on the work days and Tuesday evening as well)

The bathroom smelled. They poured something into the sink and the shower which helped a bit. The cold starters were very repetitive and not particularly tasty. We arrived 19 July and towards 24th it was rather crowded and sometimes at dinner we could t get the things we wanted because they were finished. But this is a minor thing. Like I said before better this than tons of food tossed in the bin. We always had enough to eat and enjoyed the meals. Some guests from Poland had a little to much to drink and were a bit annoying. Also once night we were woken up at 1:30 by a very loud family who were walking down the corridor and almost shouting. Would be nice if the hotel introduced some kind of “quiet hour” rule after 23:00.

The staff were really polite and friendly - there was a relaxed atmosphere about the hotel. You could see that it was really well maintained and very clean as the staff were readily available throughout the day.

We knew that there would be families at the hotel but we were really surprised to see so many children present, even though we visited during school term time. This meant that it was really busy at mealtimes which was unfortunate but there were still plenty of tables available, although staff found it challenging at times to keep up with the demand to provide food to choose from. We were also offered vouchers to eat at alternative restaurants on site but we found them to be slightly disappointing as the main restaurant provides enough variety to choose from.

The room was very spacious and it's great that you can separate the kids area from the main bed. The food was excellent all around. Lots of choices in the buffet restaurant and great for kids too. Never had any food-related issues so food safety seemed high as well. It was a perfect hotel for small kids. My 3½ year old son loved it. Everything is close together which is very convenient. The water slides in the kids pool are amazing. The beach is rocky in some parts and sandy in others. There is a great sand playground right at the beach. The entrance to the sea is quite flat, which makes it easy for the kids to enter. There are lots of activities to join. My son especially loved the mini disco, the bouncy castle and the face painting. We never had a problem finding a sunbed at the pool or the beach. I can fully recommend this place to familys with kids under 7 and will most likely come back next year.

I chose this hotel mainly because of the heated kids pool, but it was quite cold on most days, significantly colder than the sea and even the unheated adults pool. On checkin they gave me a lower room category than what I booked and payed for (Junior Suite instead of Suite). They gave me the correct room the next day, which meant I had to move my stuff again. I wish there wasn't a TV on in the kids playroom for half the day, but this seems standard these days unfortunately.

There are a lot of facilities for children, including toddlers: inside playground, outside playground, waterslides, beach playground and a really nice beach. The room was huge and had many shelf and drawers so you can have your belongings organized. The food was various and delicious, a lot of vegetarian options too. Everything was sparkling clean, even the inside playground was decently clean. You can rent bikes or go for walks in the town, which is not an usual thing for all inclusive hotels. The gym was well equipped and not crowded. Everyone was extremely nice from the restaurant stuff who never complained about my one year old making a mess at every meal to the front desk ladies who can help you with anything you need.

-

Wonderful, helpful, polite staff and the efficiency with which everything ran. The resort is run like a really well-oiled machine- meant in the best possible way. Everything is thought of, every request is accommodated. Beautiful surroundings, great facilities. Everything super clean, comfortable rooms and a great view from the balcony in sea view rooms. A great selection of food in the main restaurant for all meals (though for some reason, disappointingly, they don't serve dishes with halloumi at all, even though it's a classic and delicious Greek cheese). The child-friendliness of the resort: the kids in our group (aged 7, 8 and 11) had the best time and there was always something to entertain them. The activities organised by the wonderful,. friendly reps: aqua gym, aqua dance, darts, table tennis, kids' theatre performances.

The heat was too. much for our group in August, especially for the kids. This is not the hotel's fault obviously but we all thought we'd have enjoyed the beautiful surroundings even more in September or October. There didn't seem to be much diversity in terms of guests: it was mostly Czechs and Germans. This is a small comment as ultimately it didn't detract from the overall experience: there was a relatively limited choice and quality of all-inclusive alcohol and beer was served in warm small plastic cups (understandably, for safety reasons) in the pool bar which meant the beer quickly turned warm in the heat.

Everything was great during our stay. The location right next to the sea and beach is great. The room was clean and comfortable. Some of the room details were very thoughtful and convenient for a family with a child (like a kid's step stool next to the sink and the double shower that's convenient to take together with a child). Our 1 year old daughter really enjoyed the water slides and the mini discos. The staff was very helpful and professional, the food was good.

I didn't expect it would feel rather crowded at times (in the restaurant, at the beach/pool). Inconvenient room cleaning time, though the cleaning itself was good.

The hotel ticked most of the boxes one would like to see on a family holiday. The staff were consistently kind, professional and friendly throughout our stay and it felt really genuine. The quality of the food in the buffet was very good for an all inclusive. Moreover the kitchen staff were kind enough to cook some food on the side for our baby which had no salt even though they were very busy. This is something we really appreciated as the buffet does get busy. The property itself is large enough to feel that you have space to move around and have different settings but neither was it too big so you do not feel you are in massive resort. There are a lot of activities for the children to enjoy and a nice bar with a a very capable bartender to unwind in at night. We had booked a suite with a sea view which was very nice but upgraded to a larger room to have more space. The hotel's proximity to the beach means that you can hear the waves in your bedroom. The hotel is on the edge of the town so you benefit from a peaceful environment but can easily explore Ierapetra on foot. Would definitely recommend without hesitation.

Excellent animators, good programs for kids and adults as well (dance, pool activities, ping-pong, darts, tablefootball, etc), dedicated children creative club activities. Plenty of beach beds available both at the sea and at the pool. With the all inclusive, continuous eating and drinking available at the restaurants and at the pool (wide variety of cocktails, soft drinks, coffee, etc).

Pool is too cold (24-25C), some of the pool facilities does not work. Sea is not the sandy one but rather vulcanic, black tiny rocky one - use of seashoes recommended.